Journey
by Fuyu Tatsu
Summary: It was a journey. new experiences, new thoughts. Barry with an OC


Journey

FT: Nothing to do with the band, or the game… really.

OC named Charlotte Cross.

Mom said I was a born adventurer.

I learned to crawl at five months, and at one year, I had to –literally- be leashed otherwise I would run into the road.

We lived in a small backwater town called Pallet.

I liked it. I had a Pidgey who was my closest friend, and he would bring me flowers and pieces of glass. There was also my neighbor's Persian, who reputedly didn't like anybody, which I was the best of playmates with. Mom's Growlithe didn't pay much attention to me, he was older than I was, and he passed on when I was seven.

When I was ten, I got my license from Professor Gary Oak (who had taken over for his grandpa, Prof. Samuel Oak), and Pidgey, who I called Pips, joined my party almost as soon as I stepped out the door.

When I was thirteen, I finished the Gym Challenge, and tried out for the Elite Four Championship.

I made it to second place.

Don't get me wrong, I love Kanto.

It's my home.

But as I said.

I was a born adventurer.

Two years after I competed in the Kanto Gym Challenge, I went to Johto.

I watched trainers there, catching who I could, until one day I was forced back home.

Pips died in Pallet Town, a full-fledged Pidgeot, resting his beak on the windowsill where we first met, when I shared fruit with him.

I stayed home for a few months, missing the soft clicks of Pips' claws on the floor, and the whirr of his nasal breathing.

I wove one of his old feathers into my hair, a long primary, and had one of the feathers he shed as a Pidgey put into acrylic.

When I returned to Johto, I met Helen, a Hoothoot that I would spend many years with.

At eighteen, I tried out for the Mount Silver Conference.

I placed third.

When I was nineteen, I moved out of my Mom's house and parked myself in a town called Oldale. They didn't seem to mind my comings and goings.

I stayed in Hoenn for seven years. It was a beautiful region. I never made it to the final eight in the Championship.

But eventually, my itch demanded to get scratched, and I went to Sinnoh. I met my long-time boyfriend there, a twitchy guy named Barry, whom I couldn't get to sit still for ten seconds when I first met him.

He eventually moved in with me to Oldale, after a brief wedding reception three years to the day after we met.

I didn't even try for the Sinnoh Championship.

At twenty-nine and thirty, Barry and I decided to move again, to Unova.

I fell in love with it.

Our first child was born there, in Driftveil City, four years after we got married. He had Barry's eyes, my hair, and Barry's nature, coupled with my wanderlust.

After being talked into it –by Barry-, I tried out for the Unova Championship.

I placed first, and for some reason, I felt content just to stay put for a while after I won.

Barry laughed, and said that I must have been destined to come to Unova.

Our second child was more like Barry's mother, a placid young girl who looked my mother.

Years passed, and I felt my bones ache with an old itch.

Barry and Helen were with me.

I was fifty years old, and I returned to Kanto.

We traveled some, seeing the sights that in my younger days seemed so un-imposing.

Helen died when I was fifty-nine, and I buried her right next to Pips, his old feather necklace shortly joined by one of her feathers.

When my first grandbaby came along, I gave it to him, his eyes shining with a familiar shine.

He started in Kanto.

Why?

"Cuz I want do journey like Grandma did."

He started with a Pidgey, and called it Pecker.

Last I saw him, he had a Noctowl. Named Troy. Placed first place in the Mount Silver Conference.

And moving on to Hoenn.

I smiled, and Barry wrapped an arm around me.

"The journey continues."

So it does.

FT: Just a short story. I never really liked Barry (or whatever you call him in your Pearl/Diamond/Platinum game), but Charlotte, who is my only gypsy-esque character ever, seemed like a good match to Barry, leveling out his impatient nature with a calm reasoning.

I love Oldale Town, because it reminds me of my current address, where I'm a hop-skip-jump away from the ocean.

Unova was the only Elite Four Challenge I beat in one go, all the others I had a hard as hell time with.

Pips Pecker was the name of my very first OC, who was based of Pidgey. Back when I saw the bird back in the 90's. Yes, I am an old fan of the series, and I am an all-genner.

Helen Troy was inspired by my brief elementary school love-affair with Sparta and the ancient Gods. She was a spunky brunette with no bones to pick.

Kids were added because my mom said that there needed to be kids in the story. When she told me this I actually wanted to hit her. She promised me that she would never go through my laptop without permission. Retaliation is coming.

Reviews are love!

Fuyu Tatsu


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